It is really Summer vacation now! Hooray!

The first day of the break we declared a marking free zone and cooked up a “no curry today” dinner to celebrate Ian’s birthday, which he just happens to share with none other than Guru Rimpoche himself!! We invited every BCFer in the east but understandably many were unable to escape on day one and the rigors of exam marking and landslides blocking the roads forced them to send apologies. We did however have a fun time with those who could make it and the western style food went down a treat.

Given that the marking process is now complete and it took a grueling 80+ hours, I can gladly say that the worst time of the term for me is now over! Mid terms, unlike finals actually go back into the hands of students so I like to keep track of common errors and analyse the results “class-wise” to make the most of the experience in terms of improving students’ outcomes. I also expect students to analyse their own scores and I will discuss them with each student individually in week 1 before the regular marking routine takes over. Last year I actually corrected all the essays and short stories but this time I opted for merely marking the errors and dividing them into the criteria on which the scores were based: punctuation, grammar, spelling, expression, style and content. This shaved a massive 25 hours off the marking time for me and I figure those precious few who will want to know the precise errors and corrections will ask and the vast majority like students all over the globe will look at the score and leave it at that.

In addition to the focus on writing skills, for my own amusement I record some of the more humorous statements and spellings on the exam papers. As the time wears on the desire to complete the process takes over and less and less are recorded but here are a few that took my fancy early in the piece.

“….after many requestisations”

“Although he is good in study even day by day he is drepproving”

“their healthy will be healthy,” which so nicely accompanies “should be practically practice it,” by the same student.

“The door of his room was knoccing”

“Starting from small insects and up to humane beings go in pursuit of weathy, comforts and enjoyments which causes their lives sufferings”

“We the educated people strongly say that it is going toward left field.”

“…we with a sealy reason are frighting”

“I conclude by saying / praying to be our motherworld as the ‘English Popular Zone!’”

“I understood that ‘as we saw so shall we weep.’”

“ he was habituated in the using of drugs”

“…but one thing is that he can’t is misplaced his parents”

“It was his thinking in his mind”

“ I use simbolic language when I communicate with dump and dafe”

“ Before he was brilliant and brave and all this is lost and his life is in a miserable”

“At last he found that it was unrequired love but his love was on process”

In the few days since the horror ended, we have started our preparations for the hike to Sakteng. Ian got the ball rolling and applied for route permits for us on Monday while my nose was still firmly buried in papers. Just half an hour ago we were called by the DEO himself and told that the permits are now ready in Trashigang!! Up until then we didn’t realize that we would actually have to have paper copies as in the past when we have applied for these types of permits, the approval has gone through official channels without us even knowing anything about whether it has been approved or not. We are hoping that they will be faxed to the local post office as we have already made one trip to T/gang this week. We have also prepared lots of food for the 2 days on the trail and although we were initially told that we would have to carry supplies for all the rest of the time as well, as no food would be available once we arrived, it has now been amended to being possible for us to get rice and emadaste there! If not we will survive on “Maggi” the local term for instant noodles, which are always available. Time will tell. 2 friends have pulled out which we are very sorry about. Scott in particular, called in sick yesterday and we will sorely miss his company and good humor. The heavy rain yesterday and more today has me somewhat concerned about the condition of the trail but at least it is a distraction from the worry about leeches. There have been various communication issues with the driver/guide but Tim and we, are set to take off at 0700hours tomorrow morning. Currently the bed is scattered with possible clothing items and the usual collection of chargers and the ironing board has become the resting place of supplies and edible items. Somehow they all have to fit into 2 daypacks and we will strap on sleeping bags and hope that we are up for challenge. With a bit of luck and a fair wind the next blog may have some beautiful Brokpa people and the scenery of Sakteng.

Nothing spoils the fun of school like exam period!

With acknowledgement to Clark Gesner for his “Nothing Spoils the Taste of Peanut Butter Like Unrequited Love”

Vicky Chartres: I think exam time is about the worst time of year for me. The whole reason for being here- being in the classroom with students, unceremoniously ends when the exam period commences. Waking up and wondering if any students will actually speak to me today or whether it will just be more standing around watching and distributing and collecting papers. Knowing there will be no daily classroom interaction and an endless rounds of supervision and relieving with ever mounting bundles of exam papers to mark appearing on my desk is almost enough to make me want to give up teaching! The thing I most dislike is the exam marking.

Well, nothing to do but start. I can sort them all into essay topics and start with all sections and essays. (She unties the bundles and sorts through the papers dividing them into topics, turning the pages to the essay question) What topic is this? Why don’t they write the question? Well that’s disappointing almost everyone has chosen the Meditation and Mind training topic… That was the only one we didn’t even discuss in class. Where are the criteria? Let’s just see how they go. OK this is not bad.. Yes intro… 3 arguments and conclusion.. Structure down, good job! Yes ...Yes… Good job and this… Well. OK the grammar’s not too bad. How can you even think that? What no evidence, no examples …No, No, No. Choose one and write. Don’t sit on the fence! Was anyone even listening when we did expository essays?…Meditation is enlightenment! Answer the question! GNH?? It doesn’t answer the question. We should have written a joint construction perhaps… Where does the question say “important” or “international”?  Do they even know what “evolving” means? Oh please. Give me a break! Yes 4 out of 5 for the structure and even the spelling is not bad. Good. More like that please. OK 2 more papers and I will have a coffee. Who is this? (She flips the pages to the front page) Oh right, index numbers! No idea who this is? What were you thinking? Were you even thinking?  OK! You’ve got it, whoever you are. Maybe 5 more and I will take a 15 minute break and have a cup of coffee. How many more in this section? (She starts counting papers) OK almost half way. Didn’t I read this before? How can they all have the same arguments? Yes well done! Who are you? Right index numbers! When I finished this section, then I will check who is who against their scores. What why can’t you just copy the correct spelling from the question? 3 to go and I will stop. Where is that list with their index numbers on it? Maybe it is at school? What will it matter now the scores are done. Just get a coffee and …. God was that 4 hours. That’s enough for tonight. We need to have some dinner! I wonder which exam they have tomorrow. Arrrrgggg exams are the worst time of the year for me.

The singing tree

Grey Treepie

We are in the depths of exam mode, meaning I have spent more that 42 hours marking papers, since last Monday.  In addition to exam supervision that is a heap of work in anyone’s book and I am sorry to say the task is less than half over. With meetings still happening, students still seeking clarification before they take exams and wanting immediate gratification about the answers they have written once they exit the exam hall, there has been little time for anything else but exam fever for the last 7 days. Another 4 days and the long awaited summer break will be here but before then ….

Common Hoopoe

The weekend has come to a close and the blog I had intended to post sometime Friday is now well overdue….. Enough complaining….

Red-vented Bulbul

One of the greatest joys here is waking up to birdsong almost every morning. We are blessed with a raging river and paddy fields just outside our windows and the amount of birdlife that transits through this zone is amazing.

Blue-throated Barbet

Directly outside our bedroom window is a barren tree branch that affords birds a clear view over the steep cliff face and the river below and it is therefore a favourite resting place for a wide variety of species. We have taken to calling it the singing tree. We are fortunate to wake up to birdsong most mornings. Even when cloud cover and thick fog conceal the beauty of the mountains the birds entertain us with their antics and musicality.

Crested Bunting

A beautiful Common Kestrel 

Of course it is not the only clear view we get of the bird life but it is certainly the most convenient and many a morning I am distracted by the calls and activities of vocal and endearing species, seemingly singing for the sheer pleasure it brings them.

Black Bulbul singing its beak off!

 Earlier this week I lamented that the one power tiller that plies the fields here in this frantic planting season would scare away our morning serenade, and just to prove me wrong our friend the White-throated Kingfisher made an instant appearance, the moment the machine was turned off.

White-throated Kingfisher

Our regular walks also provide us with ample bird watching opportunities and the method we employ to identify the species we have spotted is to photograph them so we can look up our book or the net on our return home.

Himalayan Bulbul

We are now able to identify the calls of several local species and there are still an elusive few that we hear but never see. 

Cattle Egrets

These days we don't seem to get too much time to smell the flowers but we do find a few moments almost every day to appreciate the melodies.

1 chorten, 2 chorten, 3 chortens 4!

The two most calming and enigmatic visuals in all of Bhutan are the chortens and prayer flags in my humble opinion. I never tire of photographing them and at any point in time one is never very far from one or both. They are addictive and they come in an incredible range of simplistic styles, each with its own allure.

Last Sunday we finally decided to take a walk up behind the mini hydro electricity plant in Rangjung. From the road on the opposite ridge you can see 3 chortens marking a path up the mountain and it looks very enticing. We have been promising ourselves to go up there and explore for a while now so this was our chance.

From our balcony we can see a picturesque little settlement that is often bathed in very intense narrow beams of light when the surrounding area and Rangjung itself is looking rather gloomy. Try as I might to photograph it, I cannot capture its charming allure. For this reason I think of it as a kind of enchanted place and Ian refers to it as the “country club” as there is large cleared area that is always intensely green between the few scattered houses. We suspected that our chorten route would take us up to this hobbit like hamlet and were looking forward to seeing it up close and personal.

We set off earlyish but not in the cool, quiet, still of the morning as we had originally planned. It is hard to not have at least a brief sleep-in on Sunday morning when it’s the only day of the week one is not heading for the chalkface!

We more or less followed our noses to the hydro plant and then set off on the first narrow foot trail we spotted.

This was always gong to be a relatively easy walk but we were surprised at how quickly we fell upon the first of the chortens. I was climbing and panting and thinking that if we were Julian and Shauna, or Lisa and Scott or even Maureen and John, all BCFers from our intake and all in different and far flung places now, we would have been doing this in our first month or so in Rangjung. BUT seasoned hikers from mountainous environs we are not and we are still finding our climbing legs and building our stamina. For a couple of plains dwellers we are doing OK. Nonetheless most of our students can bolt up these kind of inclines without raising a sweat and wearing traditional dress and thongs! (flip-flops or slippers as they like to call them here)

Anyway sweating but undeterred we continued on our way and felt truly blessed that at this point, the unrelenting sun decided to take cover in the clouds. The second chorten afforded us a great view of the monastery but not our house but then a little farther up the trail, even it became visible. Now I just don’t get how we cannot see the chortens from our house but we can see our house from the chortens? It doesn’t add up but I have now spent a week staring meaningfully up at that same cliff face and they just can’t be seen!

On we plodded and within moments, we arrived at the third but as it turns out not final chorten. It also manifests as a group of chortens not the single entity. The area around it was littered with what looks like cotton wool and the pods, seed and membranes from the pods were also strewn about the place. The locals call this tree a cotton tree and I can certainly see why but I wonder if it is really kapok or if indeed that is even a natural substance. If anyone reading this knows I would love to be enlightened. (feel free to comment)

This collection of chorten, chedi, or stupa (depending on which Buddhist culture you are residing in) came with the accompanying “corral” of prayer flags. This too is Ian’s term as we don’t know why some of these stands of prayer flags are fenced in and others are standing like giant sentinels on the bends of roads. 

However this group of chortens was preceded by a cluster of prayer flags. The Standard group of three chortens was very well established with huge concrete bases and cleared areas and steps!! As is often the case it is clear that there are frequent visitors, who tend the site even if they are never present when we are. Nearby we were dumbfounded to see a huge water pipe and concrete tunnel (the Morgan Whyalla pipeline Ian joked) How anyone could get machinery to that point was a mystery to us and we pondered if it was possible to have done it all by hand while we hung out there and caught our breath.

Eventually we decided to keep on trucking upwards.

We were now not exactly sure where this trail would lead us but with the monastery, our house and my school disappearing and reappearing from view as we climbed we were in no danger of getting lost. 

Before we knew it we were facing a previously unexpected 4^th chorten, which just happened to be on a farm road, that looked set to return us known territory and Rangjung in particular. Maybe that is how machinery got to the lower point, as this was definitely a vehicle friendly road.

Unsatisfied with having not yet sighted the “country club” we continued up a narrow trail on the opposite side of the road. This goat track was only spotted because a man out collecting pine needles, for reasons best known to himself, darted up it after stopping to stare in awe at us for a while. 

We were equally amused by each other’s presence and exchanged the Dzongkha greeting “Kuzuzang pola!” This being the most useful of the less than 10 phrases I can now say! On this track we found ourselves finally looking sideways at the small collection of houses we see daily from the balcony. 

When the track petered out a few metres later and left us on a bit of a clearing with a bird’s eye view we figured that would do us on the upward ever upward front for the day.  We sat ourselves down listened to the birdlife, watched the red-bodied dragonflies, spotted beds of rice seedlings patiently awaiting replanting and wild figs and wondered why we had taken so long to get to this little haven so close to town!

As usual we spotted a great collection of birds only some of whom we were able to photograph so that we could look them up in the bird books once we got home. We heard several cuckoos but they were as elusive as ever.

Luckily, the road to which we returned, allowed us to make the walk a loop and I find that so much more satisfying than up and back on the same path. We took one steep shortcut and managed to keep our feet and cut off kilometres of winding dirt road by navigating the steep, slippery, near vertical descent. We made a mental note that this would not be the path of choice after heavy rain as much of it was obviously a waterway!

As we came back into known territory I had to take photos of the chortens, which mark the entrance to Rangjung and the one located in the centre of town as these are the mainstays of our chorten life.

I can’t help but be reminded of the chedi which was the only tourist attraction in Nakhon Pathom and which we could see from the Foreign Language teacher's office in a school we would rather forget in Thailand!! 

a typical day

I got up this morning promising myself that I would wear western clothing today. I can remember waking up in Australia promising myself that I would go to sleep as soon as I got home from school. It is not that I am not exhausted here, I am, but sometimes the heat and lack of electricity meaning lack of overhead fans combine to make me think that I will simply melt into a puddle in front of my class. “Madam is too active.” Students in their dedication to learn ask to have the fans switched off so that they can hear! The staffroom windows have not been opened in living memory and in the interest of saving electricity, when it is on, the fans almost never are.

Those who think that we are on some kind of extended vacation here constantly surprise us. Just to set the record straight I would like to outline a typical day.

This morning when my eyes first opened at about 4.30am I was relieved that it was pouring rain and therefore much cooler. I allowed myself to go back to sleep and awoke shocked some time just before 6am and battled the erratic water supply to have shower that alternated between scaldingly hot and ice cold as the water pressure varied. I was still able to fully appreciate that most BCFers don’t get a shower at home, and that Tashi Namgay’s dad was already in the paddies outside ploughing.

The internet connection is almost always most reliable early in the morning so as I had been yet again lulled into the misconception that today would not be sweltering, I yet again donned traditional dress and checked out emails and Facebook, sending birthday greetings to a day scholar here in Rangjung and commenting on friends and family’s postings too.

Ian had breakfast on the table in no time having been up a good half hour before me as is usually the case. And we fell into the routine of getting him into gho, getting our packed lunches ready, bringing in yesterday’s washing still drying on the balcony and organizing ourselves for the day ahead, whilst taking turns on the computer. We do have 2 laptops but one is usually enough in the mornings. Soon enough, it was time to shutdown and walk to school with the charming and talkative class 3 son of our downstairs neighbours.

On arrival at school, I signed in, and set to completing the remaining 5 exercise books of marking on my desk, before the morning assembly started. That involves prayers, followed by 2 morning speeches one in Dzongkha and one in English before the TOD takes the stand and announces essential messages and observations from breakfast and morning SUPW (Socially Useful and Productive Work) as well as general advice and then the national anthem is sung and off we all scurry to class, hoping to arrive before the whistle is blown for 2 minutes of Mindful Concentration. If you happen to be outside when that whistle blows then you must freeze where you are and meditate. It is a great way to start the day as students really do focus and settle so that period 1 begins on a positive and studious note, but it is best to be in the classroom for it, in my opinion.

Back to back lessons launch the morning forward to ‘interval’ when I am inundated with more notebooks, dutifully delivered by the class captain who keeps all of us on our toes. I begin immediately on the task of checking them and that “free’ period evaporates and again I am melting in the classroom as I squeeze between rows of desks to answer the calls of ‘Madam, Madam,’ during frantic group work.

Exams are now less than a week away and not a second is to be lost!  Music announces the arrival of lunch break but not a student will leave the room until I have and then the stampede to the dinning hall for boarders, and to the shade of the nature area with packed lunches for day scholars, is on. Like them I head to my desk and consume my packed lunch in silence and savouring the empty workroom and breathing space.

A quick exchange of SMS messages with Ian lets me know how his day is progressing and then it is back to those exercise books in earnest as they must be returned before evening study. As I wade through the pile, teachers who have returned home for lunch drift back in and photography club members return cameras, come to charge batteries and contribute collected funds to our ever growing account. Once again music announces the imminent commencement of classes and the second round of Mindful Concentration to get the afternoon session off to a productive start. Off I scurry to be in the room for the quietude.

After sweating through 3 more classes, one of them a free, which disappears in a frenzy of exercise books, last lesson Friday is over and there is a queue at the staffroom door hoping to retrieve those same books, to review in evening study. I stick it out marking for another 45 minutes and then the office-in-charge closes all the curtains, switches off the lights and fans, which have somehow managed to be on, just to let the 3 of us teachers still at our desk know that he is going to lock the office now so we need to vacate the premises.

I pack up and walk across the campus to a chorus of ”Going home Madam?” from boarders who would like to be doing just that.

As soon as I get home, I peel off the sweat soaked traditional clothes and bucket wash them hoping that the wind, which has now picked up will dry them on the line before the inevitable showers begin. The moment I get my computer turned on the power goes off but I persist with writing up review questions for my class X home group, who are daily looking more overwhelmed by the prospect of the exams. Somehow they have convinced me to take an extra class on Saturday afternoon between 2 and 4pm, this week!

About 20 minutes later one of my home class boys, Tshering Gyeltshen arrives with the huge pocket of his gho full of plums that his parents have delivered to him today. When I try to tell him that he needs to share them with other classmates, he assures me that he has a sack full and these are for me. Tshering of the winning smile, has charmed me yet again.  He by the way is looking more alert and engaged than he has all week. Parental visits do make a big difference.

Back to the review questions for me and before I know it is almost 8pm and Ian has yet again prepared dinner and a rare treat of pasta no less!!! I am sure I would not eat if I had to cook in addition to keeping on top of the demands of school and students who genuinely want to learn!!

Thank God tomorrow is Saturday… except that I will have an additional afternoon session with XC after the usual morning’s teaching! Maybe tomorrow I really will wear western (read much cooler) clothing.

It is 10.30pm now and I am writing this I really must be mad

Showcasing school

There is always a huge event looming on the horizon

With exams looming large on the horizon things have been somewhat frantic of late. In addition to attending the many extra curricular activities, we have both been spending a great deal of time in the evenings writing the 2 exams for each level we teach. The number one concern is actually finishing the curriculum before the time runs out and that is a challenge in a society where classes can be abandoned and adhoc meetings called for some very obscure reasons. To say nothing of the constant stream of additional duties that simply take over one’s life at a moment’s notice.

regardless of the activity fun can be had

Just as my school was beginning to gear up for the cluster sports meeting which we were pretty sure we would be asked to host and were imagining a May deadline, the District Athletics’ Meet was announced. We had completed all the inter-house competitions for every known sport and were selecting the most likely competitors for the school teams when all that activity was put on hold and the athletics took over.

 Down to the last millimetre 

With only a week’s notice, the logistics involved in successfully completing the diverse variety of tasks that needed preparation, was a real challenge. This event did however give us the welcome pleasure of having a perfect reason to invite the most influential guest in the Dzongkhag (district) the Dasho Dzongda ( goverernor) to formally and officially open the new grandstand that has been erected and painted in the spectacular traditional style on my school campus. Pomp and ceremony is something that is taken very seriously here and this occasion was no exception.

 our principal performing a sacred rite involving "ara" -local alcohol

With 8 schools involved and all of the competitors and their supervising teachers as well as other officials spending at least one night sleeping on the floor in our classrooms, there were plenty of jobs to be attended to.

 There is always a class XII student for the job

Of course the new grand stand required bunting to be put up, as did the entire circumference of the playing field.

who needs safety  precautions anyway

 Pits had to be dug and sand hauled bag by bag from the nearby riverbanks. 

get a dozen or so girls to do it

The tracks had to be marked. First Aid teams had to prepare necessary supplies. Cleanup teams were employed scouring the campus. 

plenty of others were milling about and adding to the atmosphere

Catering had to be organised to feed a hundred odd extra mouths and the refreshment team had to ensure that snacks were available for sale,

cooking up a storm

and liquids provided to all with the correct etiquette and protocol. 

only the school captain gets to serve the VIPS

Pine needles had to be collected and scattered on any path that the Dasho would walk on. 

that green carpet of pine needles

Scoreboards, prizes and certificates and writers had to be found. 

those with the best handwriting win that task

And another million other tasks were also required and all this and more, fell into place with the usual level creative and resourceful engagement of the whole school cohort, coordinated by teaching and non-teaching staff in the scant time available after classes finished on Friday afternoon.

tying rose petals into the ceremonial scarf! 

As has become the norm I was allocated the responsibility of capturing the event for prosperity and I began by getting myself a team of proven, keen photographers, armed with cameras and newly purchased spare batteries, as assistants.

Just the sand pit to land in and the string to jump over but a very determined attitude!

On Saturday morning while eating breakfast at home I could hear the whistles blowing and cheering and instantly knew that the events had already begun a good hour and a half before the scheduled time. I hustled myself off to school as quickly as possible.

 winners always wear a smile

It was a sunny morning and many of the field events had been rescheduled to the earlier cooler part of the day, and on arrival I was astounded at how smoothly the whole event had got underway.

 Olympic torch! Right!!

We stopped for breakfast, (my second) at about 9am, as by then we knew our chief guest had been delayed. 

even when he did arrive he was seen to be a busy man

As usual the RHSS mess did itself proud and the students and staff, from elsewhere were impressed with the food.

breakfast alfresco!

 The fiercely competitive but friendly atmosphere changed to joviality, while completing students stood in the blazing sun in full school uniform awaiting the arrival of Dasho and the start of the official opening ceremonies. I did not hear a single complaint about the heat or inconvenience and all readily engaged in the role allocated them, much to my amazement.

                                        RHSS putting on a brave face

Soon I was able to see the real splendor of the ceremonial procedures and watch the students do themselves proud, while positively overheating myself in my traditional attire.

 Scouts also have a role here

Once lunchtime approached I managed to slip home and and leave the remainder of the recording of the events to my ever ready, willing and able assistants, 

everything on standby...

while we implemented  our prior plan to visit Ashley in Kanglung . 

                    looking great and totally engaged .. that's Ashely!

But that is another story.....